Save A Dance For The Dark

• Amber Guy, Grade 12
• Short Story
• 2014

Music drifted through the hall, filling the space with its warmth as Ladies and Gentleman twirled across the floor, graceful creatures who belonged to the dances they performed. Laughter and cheerful chatter lingered around the edge of the dancers, guests watching them with awe. This night a darkness hid in the shadows, out of sight and out of place in the grandeur that surrounded it. Me.

I stood in the shadows as I watched the ballroom below; my vibrant sapphire eyes the only part of my face visible behind my masquerade mask following the movements of my family as they swirled within the twirling masses below. Bitter resentment for them had slithered into my heart and made itself a home of steel, unmoving and unwavering in its strength within my heart and mind. I’d learnt long ago that more could be gained from the shadows than the limelight and that secret moments with my estranged father would never quench the fire that burned my soul, those were flames I was destined to destroy alone. Before they succeeded in their destruction of me.

I watched as the dancers below stepped away from each other, standing in opposing lines as they eagerly awaited the next dance. I chose then to move from the shadows, I descended the stairs and moved towards the dance floor. I wove through the dancers, eyes turning in my direction. I stopped in the centre of the floor with the knowledge that all eyes had turned to the masked woman in their centre, the one who wasn’t welcome, one who didn’t fit into their perfection. My vivid red dress standing out amongst the pale neutral gowns of the woman who surrounded me, more than just a dress it was part of rebellion. Something to tell my family I was no longer living in the shadows, it was my turn to take the floor. I looked up towards the band and caught the eye of its leader, a man I had befriended long ago. He nodded and turned to his band members, instructing them as I turned to the man who had moved to join me, dressed as my opposite and equal, in black and icy blue with a masquerade mask to match. Without a word I stepped forward into his arms, just as the music began.

We moved as easily and with as much grace as all the dancers had during their earlier dances, but with a difference. We danced alone; no one joined us in our swift and somewhat startling movements across the floor. As we spun together the other guests moved back, crowding at the sides of the room and watching in silence as we demanded the floor. The band playing a song the bands leader had created for me alone. I laughed as I danced with more passion and joy than had been gifted to me in my life, the knowledge that I had finally shown everyone what I could be and what I would never be elated my soul and lifted me above their grasp. As our song finished we ran together from the ballroom and into the night.

I may not be accepted in any ballroom or belong within the ranks of the elite but I would face them with defiance, knowing that they would break beneath it. I would fight and continue to find those people in the shadows, alienated and alone. No more will we be hidden, secluded and drowned by bitterness. We will fight with defiant hearts, from the shadows of others sins into the light we create for ourselves.